Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-08-05

ed by the West, ana he was one vi
the commissioners to negotiate the
treaty by which it was closed lie
was called to the chief position IN
the Cabinet by a President who
had ample experience of the impor'
tance of foreign affairs. Up to this
point his success may be said TO
have been unalloyed. From this
very summit, while he looked con-
fidently forward to attaining a yet
greater height, he was destined TO
see spring up from the depths a
formidable opponent ofindomltaole
energy who should not only oaiiie
his ambitious hopes, but obstruct
the orderly progress OF the nation
and by violent assertion of self-will,
bold appeals to vulgar feeling, and
headstrong disregard of legal and
constitutional restrictions, should
shake seriously the costly fabric OF
republican government. Against
such rude, elemental force, support
ed by thousands newly awakened
to the power of their ballots, Clay's
persuasive eloquence and personal
magnetism we're exerted in vain.
He was able to reach and control
the majority of intelligent voters,
but he could not control the un'
thinking masses. These were drawn
inevitably into the cohorts of the
Democratic chieftain. Not only
was Clay debarred from the Presi'
dency when it seemed but the next
step in his course, but the new
forces evoked and the new ques'
tions of the time wrought a change
in his whole nature and method OF
proceeding. Overthrow by VIC.
lence, he lost IN a marked degree
the indispensable confidence of his
subordlnates. Hencetorth, wheth-
er in the Senate or in occasional
retirement from public life, how
ever diligent he was as the creator
and champion Of the Wing party,
there were enough distrustful or
unfaithful followers to disappoint
his personal ambition. Yet his
worst defeats we're due to himself.
By making the question of the
United States Bank a national ls'
sue in 1882, he plunged his party
into lrretrievable disaster. by
leading the Senate to reject Martin
Van Buren's nomination as minis
ter to England he opened the way
for Van Buren's election to the
Presidency. BY placing on the
records of the Senate a condemna'
ton of Jackson's arbitrary acts he
led up to Benton's empty triumph
in the expunging OF the record. BY
his vaclllation in regard to Texas
he lost votes both north and south
perhaps lost the Presidency in
1914. Above all, as the question
of the extention or restriction OF
slavery became more and more ur-
gent, his attitude in regard to 1t
grew ambiguous, or was made by
his friends to appear so. A stand
ing candidate for the Presidency
in party more strongly disposed
to criticise than to obey its leaders,
his judgment was clouded, and his
attention distracted, so that repeat
edly at a critical turn he committed
fatal blunders. Yet while the lead.
er and his party suffered defeat,
the great principles which they
cherished triumpbed eventually
Love of the Union was instilled in.
to the hearts of the people and was
fostered as the Union itself grew
stronger. To this result 1t must be
acknowledged that the words and
acts of Jackson contributed az
we'll as the speeches of Clay and
Webster. In the eliminating strug'
gle which the great Wing Senators
had striven to avert, the mora
forces which they had educated
proved strong enough to bear the
tremendous strain of civil war and
win the victory, though only by the
overthrow OF that institution by
the injury of whose alliance the
Wing party perished.
To every public man and (witt
the exception already indicated) to
every public question which comes
up for discussion in this wide sur
vey of American politics, Mr.
Schurz awards substantial justice
His portrsiture of Jackson anC
Clay as the rival candidates in 1873.
is admirable, and his summing uI
of Clay's life IN the closing chapter
is weighty and iudlcious. 1t Is no
to be expected that such all arden
friend of free trade should discove
the perfection of reason or beauty
in the protective tariff, which Clay
supported with an occasional lapse
He does not distort facts, but Il
spite of the benignity of cosmopoI
itan wisdom he cannot refer to tn
subject Of protection without ind
cations of his dislike for the policy
This, indeed, constitutes the blen
Ish Of the book: it is unfit an
unsuitable that Henry Clay's biol
raphy should be write n by on
not in sympathy with his views o
Protection. 1t is to the credit
Mr.. Schurz that he recor' Is and el
dorses the words of truth an
J. .olor,ooa xyhiob tho dvi mo- state